MINDFULNESS PRACTICE

Take 10 Minutes for Mindfulness

No need for incense or sitting on a cushion. You can drop those niggling thoughts about work, too. Try it for ten minutes. What happens?

In this recent Ted Talk, Andy Puddicombe, founder of Headspace (a project that works to demistify meditation through the Headspace App and exercises available online) explains how putting everything down for ten minutes a day gives the brain a much-needed moment to rest and recuperate.

But putting everything down doesn't mean meditation requires no thoughts at all.

"Most people assume that meditation is all about stopping thoughts, getting rid of emotions, somehow controlling the mind," Puddicombe explains, "But actually it's about stepping back, seeing the thought clearly, witnessing it coming and going.”

Observing thoughts can tell us things about them we might have known otherwise.

"Things aren't always as they appear," he says.

In the video below, Puddicombe uses juggling to demonstrate how thoughts can become fast and rushed, or slow and loose—how these characteristics affect our attitude and approach to daily actitives.